[2017-08-04] German Bitcoin Exchange Hands Out Private Info to Investigators

[Slow death]

German Bitcoin Exchange Hands Out Private Info to Investigators

Bitcoin.de, renowned as Germany’s biggest digital currency exchange, has been handing out its clients’ private account information voluntarily to German Police. There has been a big push from law officials to take down darknet markets, and as such, they have been using exchange information to track cryptocurrency users.

User privacy and information has been a thorny issue as Coinbase, one of the most popular exchanges in the US has been fighting the IRS who have been hunting for information on the exchange’s clients.


Legal reporting obligations


There have been some big dark net take downs recently, with AlphaBay and Hansa both falling. Hansa was taken down by Dutch authorities, and it seems that there is a big push in Europe to stop these illegal marketplaces.

The information that German police have been seeking from the exchange has been Bitcoin addresses, names, associated emails, locations, account summaries, IP addresses and login history.

The exchange has defended itself by saying this reporting is justified and that it has a trustworthy cooperation with the German authorities.

However, a professor and data protection officer from Hamburg, Johannes Caspar, says Germany’s Money Laundering Act (AMLA) says there is no legal obligation to give data to police.

This goes hand in hand with what has been happening in the US and the IRS as their call for hundreds of thousands of customers’ information has been unprecedented and blocked by many different players.


Outraged


The draw of digital currency like Bitcoin is its anonymity, and a lot of that has to do with the protection that exchanges have in not needing to divulge information on transactions.

One customer from South Germany says he is outraged at how this major exchange has compromised his privacy.

“I am speechless,” explains Jansen. “I thought this is a serious company and that my data is safe there.”

https://cointelegraph.com/news/german-bitcoin-exchange-hands-out-private-info-to-investigators

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[1Referee]

Nothing to be surprised about. If exchanges get forced to hand over user information, they as a sheep will do everything they are being told to do. It's something we as users of these centralized exchanges agree to by making use of their service, and also fully verify ourself with whatever bit of personal information they need. This is exactly why at the time I require an extra layer of privacy, I run coins withdrawn from an exchange through a mixing service. It of course can't guarantee me a 100% privacy experience, but it's the highest level of privacy one can gain in such situations. People tend to look at mixers from a negative perspective, but these services should gain a whole lot more respect. Not everyone making use of mixers is a criminal by default.

[IIOII]

Nothing to be surprised about. If exchanges get forced to hand over user information, they as a sheep will do everything they are being told to do. It's something we as users of these centralized exchanges agree to by making use of their service, and also fully verify ourself with whatever bit of personal information they need. This is exactly why at the time I require an extra layer of privacy, I run coins withdrawn from an exchange through a mixing service. It of course can't guarantee me a 100% privacy experience, but it's the highest level of privacy one can gain in such situations. People tend to look at mixers from a negative perspective, but these services should gain a whole lot more respect. Not everyone making use of mixers is a criminal by default.

They weren't forced. They acted in anticipatory obedience without an existing court order.

[error08]

~snip~
The information that German police have been seeking from the exchange has been Bitcoin addresses, names, associated emails, locations, account summaries, IP addresses and login history.

The exchange has defended itself by saying this reporting is justified and that it has a trustworthy cooperation with the German authorities.

However, a professor and data protection officer from Hamburg, Johannes Caspar, says Germany’s Money Laundering Act (AMLA) says there is no legal obligation to give data to police.

If there is no obligation, so why they have to hands out private information about their customers? I don't think so, as law enforcement agencies could do this just like what happened with coinbase before.

The draw of digital currency like Bitcoin is its anonymity, and a lot of that has to do with the protection that exchanges have in not needing to divulge information on transactions.

Bitcoin isn't fully anonymous, if you don't want to be an object of investigation, do not transact with exchanges and banks.
and people can not be involved in this currency in order to avoid law authorities to do illegal transactions, you don't have to worry about it as long as you're on good track.

[Baofeng]

If I were a customer of this Bitcoin exchange, I will also be outrage with this handing private info. They have no right in the first place to ask for it? What is the purpose? And for the exchange, customer should get out because they have already been compromised. Then this exchange now would nothing be short of a bank now, which will defeat the purpose of using them in the first place. Government agencies are really cracking on the bitcoin ecosystem and time will only tell us that all exchanges will be regulated as well by the government.